SEBI revises Mutual Funds Monthly Cumulative Report format to add scheme category and segregated portfolios reporting.
SEBI revised the Monthly Cumulative Report format effective January 2021 (Annexure A) to add a new scheme category and require explicit reporting of segregated portfolios and their AUM, with detailed columns for schemes, folios, net inflow/outflow, redemptions, net assets and average AUM; the revision covers open ended, close ended and interval schemes and preserves other conditions from the prior circular.

Procedural relaxation for rights issues extended, subject to continued compliance with specified circular conditions.
SEBI extends the one-time procedural relaxation for Rights Issues provided earlier, making the specified waiver in the prior circular applicable for Rights Issues opening up to March 31, 2021, provided the issuer and Lead Manager(s) continue to comply with the specified remaining condition(s) in that prior circular; the extension is issued under Sections 11(1) and 11A of the SEBI Act and Regulations 299 and 300 of the ICDR Regulations and is effective from the date of issue.

Cumulative gross exposure in ETCDs clarified: specified short positions excluded; mutual funds barred from writing options.
Specifies that, for calculating cumulative gross exposure in Exchange Traded Commodity Derivatives (ETCDs), short positions up to the quantity of underlying goods received in physical settlement and short positions up to the long position in the same goods shall be excluded; additionally mutual funds are prohibited from writing options or purchasing instruments with embedded written options in goods or on commodity futures.

Relaxation of LODR compliance: electronic-mode general meeting exemptions extended, maintaining waiver of physical report and proxy requirements.
Extension of LODR relaxations permits listed entities to conduct general meetings through electronic modes and preserves the exemption from sending physical annual reports and from requiring proxies for meetings held via video conferencing or other audiovisual means; stock exchanges are directed to notify listed entities and disseminate the circular, which takes immediate effect under the regulator's statutory powers.

Volatility Scan Range mandated: exchanges must adopt minimum VSRs by commodity class and conduct monthly backtesting and adjustments.
Prescribes minimum Volatility Scan Range (VSR) thresholds for option contracts by volatility category and commodity type; requires clearing corporations to backtest VSR monthly using three years' data, employing appropriate volatility estimation models (such as EWMA and implied volatility) over the relevant Margin Period of Risk; changes identified by the 15th must be implemented from the first trading day of the following month; circular effective from the first trading day of April and issued under SEBI's regulatory powers.

Daily price limits for commodity futures revised to slab-based mechanism with cooling-off, VWAP base rules and exchange reporting.
The circular revises Daily Price Limits for commodity futures by fixing the base price as prior closing (with VWAP-based rules for first trading day), prescribing initial, enhanced and aggregate slab mechanics with a fifteen-minute cooling-off period after breaches, permitting staged or exceptional relaxations tied to international price movements with immediate reporting to SEBI's surveillance, detailing VWAP-based daily settlement calculations, allowing exchanges to impose narrower DPLs based on surveillance or liquidity, and requiring system, bye-law and disclosure changes prior to implementation.

Transfer of excess Stock Exchange contributions between Core SGFs permitted, subject to direct inter clearing transfer and Minimum Required Corpus compliance.
Transfers of a Stock Exchange's excess contribution are permitted from the Core SGF of one Clearing Corporation to the Core SGF of another in an interoperable scenario. Transfers must be initiated on request of the Exchange, effected directly by the Clearing Corporation receiving the request to the destination Core SGF, with intimation to the Exchange, and must preserve compliance with the Minimum Required Corpus of Core SGF prescribed by the regulator.

Exemption from proviso compliance requires investor waiver in prescribed format under SEBI AIF regulatory framework.
Exemption from applicability of clauses (i) and (ii) of the first proviso to Regulation 20(6) of the AIF Regulations is subject to specified conditions, including each investor furnishing a waiver to the AIF in the manner prescribed by SEBI; the circular provides the waiver format at Annexure I and issues the guidance under SEBI's investor-protection and regulatory powers.

Monthly reporting by portfolio managers: detailed AUM, inflows/outflows, transactions, performance and complaints required each month.
SEBI requires portfolio managers to submit monthly reports on the Intermediaries Portal within seven working days after month-end using the revised Annexure A format. The template collects detailed data by service type-discretionary, non-discretionary, advisory-covering client break-ups, AUM by asset class and approach, funds inflows/outflows (monthly and fiscal YTD), transaction data including portfolio turnover ratio, performance metrics with benchmark comparisons, and a complaints matrix showing pending, received and resolved counts.

Refund of security deposit: Exchanges must follow prescribed retention and release timelines upon member surrender to protect investors.
SEBI prescribes retention and release timelines for security deposits after approval of Trading Member surrender: client-facing members' deposits are to be released only after the earlier of three years from receipt of surrender application or five years from disablement of trading terminals; members who conducted only proprietary trading in the preceding three years have deposits released after the earlier of one year from receipt of surrender application or three years from disablement. Exchanges must amend bye-laws, notify members, provide website dissemination, report implementation to SEBI, and maintain arbitration mechanisms for claims.

Relaxation of compliance timelines extends deadlines for client call recordings and KYC uploads, allowing a backlog clearance window.
Relaxation of timelines extends the deadline for maintaining client call recordings and provides an exclusion period with a defined backlog-clearance window for uploading client KYC application forms and supporting documents to KRA systems. Stock exchanges and clearing corporations must notify and require members to clear any backlog within the prescribed windows; the measures are issued under statutory regulatory powers to protect investor interests and regulate securities markets.

Creation of security and debenture trustee due diligence requirements: implementation timeline extended to ease compliance obligations.
SEBI has deferred the effective date for compliance with the requirements on creation of security for listed debt issuances and the due diligence obligations of debenture trustees, in response to representations from debenture trustees and operational challenges due to the COVID 19 pandemic; the extension applies to issuers proposing listed debt, recognized stock exchanges and registered debenture trustees and is issued under SEBI's regulatory powers to protect investors and regulate the securities market.

Order Management System requirement mandates automated scheme-wise order placement with audit trail and time-stamping for fund managers.
Trade execution and allocation obligations require use of an automated Order Management System for equity and equity-related orders, with scheme-wise placement by fund managers or authorised employees, and maintenance of a scheme-wise audit trail and time-stamping from fund manager instruction through dealer placement, execution and allocation; discretion-free transactions may be excluded from OMS if documented and equivalent audit trails and compliance with allocation limits are maintained, and fund managers retain responsibility for order placement.

Proxy advisor reporting obligations require prompt client alerts for errors and rapid communication of material revisions to protect investors.
SEBI-registered proxy advisors must alert clients within 24 hours of receipt of information about factual errors or impending material revisions to reports, and communicate any material revisions to clients within 72 hours of receipt while ensuring adequate time for clients to make informed decisions; these modified time-bound notification and communication duties supplement the existing procedural framework and are issued under SEBI's regulatory mandate to protect investor interests.

Schemes of arrangement and relaxations under rule 19: consolidated procedural and compliance guidance for listed entities.
Master compilation providing procedural and compliance guidance for listed entities on Scheme of Arrangement and the Relaxation under Sub-rule (7) of rule 19, consolidating operative circulars that set out filing, disclosure, process requirements, and conditions for relaxations, while stating that any inconsistency will be resolved in favour of the underlying circulars.

Core Settlement Guarantee Fund and default waterfall rules for LPCC set contribution, replenishment, and loss allocation mechanisms.
SEBI establishes that LPCC Core SGF contributions shall be made by issuers (upfront levy based on issuance value), clearing members (risk based primary contribution to cover residual margin deficits, exposure free and pro rata), and the LPCC (transfer of profits and optional additional funds counted as net worth). Replenishment must occur immediately after usage with a once per 30 day replenishment cap from the notice of default; LPCC must temporarily cover failures to replenish. A prescribed default waterfall sequences member monies, insurance, issuer contribution, LPCC resource layers, Core SGF components, capped calls on non defaulting members, and finally pro rata haircuts to payouts, with specified calling, resignation and SEBI approval conditions.

Stress testing cap for extreme commodity price movements replaces outliers beyond a high z-score using long term mean and sigma.
SEBI amends stress-testing norms for commodity derivatives to cap extreme historical price returns by replacing returns beyond a Z-score of 10 with the Z-score-10 movement; the Z-score is computed using mean and sigma of returns over the applicable MPOR across a 15-year period. This measure addresses exceptional volatile price events and is effective on issuance.

Permissible holders of Depository Receipts: NRIs allowed for employee benefit, bonus and rights issues; issuers must identify NRI holders.
SEBI clarifies that permissible holders of Depository Receipts must be non residents and not NRIs, but creates exceptions allowing NRIs to hold DRs issued under share based employee benefit schemes and to receive DRs via bonus or rights issues. Beneficial Owner retains the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules definition, and both permissible holders and beneficial owners remain responsible for compliance. Listed companies must identify NRI DR holders under employee schemes and provide that information to the designated depository for monitoring; exchanges and depositories must amend rules and notify market participants.

E voting access through demat accounts enables single-login shareholder voting with depository authentication and OTP security.
SEBI directs integration of remote e-voting with depositories so demat account holders can access ESP portals via a single login-either through direct registration with depositories or via demat account interfaces-where authentication is performed by the depository, confirmatory SMS is sent after voting, and depositories will send pre-voting alerts to demat holders; a second-factor OTP verification is mandated in a subsequent phase, with depositories, listed companies and ESPs providing helplines and disclosure links to assist shareholders.

ASBA payment mechanism expanded to allow call money payments for partly paid securities via SCSBs and linked trading demat bank accounts.
The circular expands the use of ASBA and additional electronic channels to permit subscription and payment of balance money for calls on partly paid specified securities through online SCSB portals, physical SCSB branches, and linked trading, demat and bank accounts, with intermediaries and RTAs required to guide holders on the mechanism.